


i'll leave a candle burning (come home)

by lilithqueen



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 17:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17047661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithqueen/pseuds/lilithqueen
Summary: Alphinaud waits up for his boyfriend to come home every night. (Always remember to leave a window open so your tomcat can get back inside.)





	i'll leave a candle burning (come home)

**Author's Note:**

> For shippy things, feel free to visit [ship-to-hell.](http://ship-to-hell.tumblr.com/)

He’d pleaded exhaustion after dinner and retired early, dodging his sister’s and Tataru’s questions by informing them that he was going to read before bed. It technically wasn’t a lie; he did have quite the stack of tomes waiting for a moment of his time, and he had been looking forward to the monograph on the Autumn War. But that had been bells ago, and he hadn’t finished it.

The candle on his desk was burning low. He turned another page. _He swore to me that he would be home this night._

It wouldn’t be the first time Estinien was late. His lover had never broken a promise deliberately—even when he’d left with no expectations only to slink in the next week or month or two months later, he was always full of apologies and kisses and new scars that he would swear hadn’t been serious, Alphinaud, really—but he had a distinctly flexible definition of “nighttime” that tended to see him only gracing their bedchamber at three bells past midnight. Tonight looked as though it would be one of those times, and Alphinaud sighed. _Gods, bring him back to me._

Another page. There were words on it, but damned if he was actually comprehending any of them. He dropped his chin onto his hand, gaze drifting to the framed daguerrotype of the two of them together in borrowed yukata, one of Estinien’s arms around his waist. Even now, a year later, it made him smile to remember the day in Kugane that had begun with Estinien asking to be shown the sights and ended with a street fair, all brilliant lights and colors in the darkness. And then Estinien had pulled him into a back alley and dropped to his knees, breathing that he’d _missed him_ , and the things his lover had been doing with his tongue had rendered Alphinaud quite unable to retort that they’d been together all day.

He shivered happily at the memory. With Ala Mhigo well on its way to rebuilding, there was no reason they couldn’t have a repeat of that wonderful date in a different city. _Gods know we don’t get enough time to simply be together before another world-ending crisis comes along._ _As the Warrior would say, ‘tis a bloody nuisance._

At this rate, he was never going to finish the book. After a last glance at the page, he reluctantly marked it and set it aside to ready himself for bed. Ala Mhigan furniture was designed largely for sturdiness rather than comfort, and if he awaited his lover’s return in his desk chair his arse was going to be numb by the time he arrived.

This, he supposed, was one of the perils of falling in love with a man who held adventure in his blood. The room felt far too large and empty without Estinien lounging on the bed, watching him with an endlessly pleased smirk as he shed his outer layers. He thought for a moment he could almost hear his low rumble from the previous night.

“ _You’re beautiful,” he’d told him._

_It had been warm; Alphinaud had all but thrown his coat off then, unable to stop himself grinning.“Aren’t you going to help me with all these buttons?”_

“ _But then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the sight of you nearly so well. Strip for me?”_

_He had. And Estinien’s eyes had gleamed wickedly as he’d watched. “Would that I had your skill with a pencil, to immortalize this.”_

“ _I don’t intend to let you forget.”_

The memory made his blood pound, but he fell back on the bed unsatisfied by it. It wasn’t the same as having Estinien _here_ , in their bed, with strong arms around him and his breath raising the little hairs at the back of his neck. Even the worst snore in the world—untamed by company until he’d come along and worsened by the fight against Nidhogg into something even Alphinaud was unable to accurately compare to anything other than a bear with a head cold—was sweet to his ears. It meant Estinien was alive.

Alive and strong and...out in the Lochs somewhere, dealing with what the delegation from the Saltery had sworn was a monster unlike anything they’d seen before. Alphinaud stared up at the ceiling. _He killed dragons. He can kill this. He’ll be fine, and he will come back to me. And I’ll wait up to greet him when he does._

He huffed and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. All his limbs felt like lead, but his mind refused to quiet. If he’d been even vaguely drowsy before, he certainly wasn’t now; he _logically_ knew that this mission was nothing Estinien couldn’t handle, but the thoughts scratching at the back of his mind—the Warrior had called them “brain gremlins” and the name seemed more than apt—seemed determined to revisit the likeliness of his lover’s horrible death-by-overgrown-yabby. And they wouldn’t _stop_. When the mental image of Estinien at the Steps of Faith flashed across his mind so strongly he could almost taste the blood in the back of his mouth, he groaned and jammed the pillow over his head.

_Maybe I should go back to trying to read. Perhaps that travelogue on the Azim Steppes…?_

As he slowly pushed himself into a more-or-less upright sitting position, he heard the clunk of something—someone—landing on the windowsill. He froze, one ear swiveling towards the sound; when it was joined by a familiar-sounding exhale, he flopped back down, suddenly boneless in relief. _He’s back._

And evidently had assumed he was asleep, because he was trying to be quiet. Estinien was never especially stealthy at the best of times; trying to remove full armor lit only by the moon was not one of those. Alphinaud shifted to watch him, smiling softly. When Estinien caught his fingers in a buckle and bit back a curse, he decided to speak up. “...Welcome home.”

Estinien sighed; Alphinaud could just make out his frown. “I told you not to wait up for me. You need sleep.”

“Mm. So do you.” _And I sleep better in your arms._

“...True.” Estinien sounded very much as though he didn’t want to admit it. But then he finally shucked the last of his plate and slid into bed, and his limbs were loose as he arranged himself into a comfortable position and pulled Alphinaud against him until they were separated only by Estinien’s clothing and his own trousers. The look on his face—open, unguarded, _gentle_ —made Alphinaud’s heart skip a beat. “You were right, you know.”

He rested his forehead against Estinien’s chest, feeling as well as hearing his steady heartbeat. He was too warm and smelled faintly of ozone and animal blood, but that was alright. Estinien was here and whole and in his arms where he belonged. “About what?”

Estinien’s chuckle reverberated pleasantly through him. “It _was_ an overgrown yabby. Of course, when I say overgrown I do mean about the size of Vidofnir, so they were being sensible to call for reinforcements.”

“Good.” He couldn’t muster up more than that; Estinien’s body was a comfortable furnace, and he was tired. Like this, sleep was more tempting than comparing their respective days, though he knew he’d want all the details of his lover’s expedition in the morning. But then Estinien was moving, sliding one thigh between his legs as he sought a more comfortable position, and it was enough to send a tiny spark up his spine. “Mmm...”

“Hm?” Estinien ran a hand down his bare back, but it was more comforting than arousing; when he huffed and wriggled in his arms in a vain search for more friction, his lover only smiled at him. “No, you’re exhausted. Go to sleep.”

Alphinaud pulled back just far enough to give him a dirty look. “I will remind you this is your fault. I _was_ going to sleep.”

The smile held a wicked edge now. “’Tis not my fault you’re so easy to work up. In the morning when we’ve both regained the necessary energy, hm?”

“...Hm.” Much as he hated to admit it, Estinien did have a point. Regardless of any state of arousal he might be in, moving enough to satisfy it didn’t seem like something he could convince his body to do at the moment. Not with the delicious softness of his sheets and his lover’s warm, heavy arm over his waist beckoning him to sleep. Still, he could lean up to steal a kiss. “...Good night, then.”

Estinien’s arms tightened around him, pulling him close. “Good night.” And then he murmured against Alphinaud’s hair, so softly that he almost missed it, “I love you.”

“Mmm. Love you too.”

Thus reassured, he shut his eyes and let sleep claim him.


End file.
